Improvement in vehicle-seats



"UNITED STATES A1 ATF.1\TT OFFICE,

FREDERICK OFFEFHEIM, oFr's-AN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA.

IMPROVEMENT IN VEHICLE-SEATS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 184,656, dated November 21, 1876; application filed November 2, 1876. l

To all whom it may concern Beit known that I, FREDERICK OFPENHEIM, of San Francisco, in the county of San Francisco and State of California, have invented a new and- Improved Vehicle-Seat, of which the following is a specification:

This invention has for its object to improve I the folding seat described in Letters Patent No. 174,148, in as far as the said patent describes a means of sliding the carriage-body on the running-gear during the unfolding and folding of the seat.

My present invention consists, principally, in connecting the side panels of the foldingseat support by braces having stop-joints with the running-gear, in such manner that these braces will allow a partial motion of the seat independent of the sliding motion of the body.

In the mechanism described in the abovementioned Letters Patent the supporting part of the running-gear had pins entering slots in the side panels of the seat-support, and when the seat was swung back and forward these pins would cause a sliding motion of the carriage-body on the running-gear to take place throughout the entire movement of the seat. This rendered the operation of the seat somewhat difficult, as it was invariably' coupled with the sliding motion of the carriage-body,

while by lny present invention the unfolding` motion of therseat is started without being hindered by the sliding of the body, and in this manner the shifting of the seat is rendered more easy than before. l

ln the drawing, the Figures l, 2, and 3 are side views of the vehicle, showing my improved folding seat in various positions.

Similar letters of referente indicate corresponding parts in all the figures.

ing seat D with the bottom of the carriagebody, all substantially as stated in my former patent.

By links or levers H, I join the side panels F to the bar B, said link having a stop-joint at d, which prevents it from being thrown farther than to a vertical position, as substantially indicated in Fig. 2, or to an equiva.

lent position with reference to the object to be attained. This link, when the seat D is folded upon the seat C, as in Fig. 1, extends from its lower joint d in the direction -of the joint'or hinge a. Now, when the seatD is swung away from the seat C, the first part of its motion will not cause the body A to be displaced on' the runninggear B, but these two parts will retain the same position, as indicated by Figs. l and 2, until the stop-joint d takes effect, and after that the further unshifting motion of the seat D causes it, by means of the rigidly-braced link or links H, and by its further connection b with the wagon-body A, to push the latter, and to move it on the supporting bar or bars B in a direction opposite to that in which the seat is swung, until tin-ally the position indicated in Fig. 3 has been attained.

For folding the seat D upon the seat C again, the wagon-body is first drawn, by pulling it by a suitable handle, into the position shown in Fig. 2, and is thereby also caused to partly raise the seat D, .as shown, and to swing it toward the seat C as far as shown in Fig. 2, whereupon the folding niotion of the seat D is ycompleted by simply swinging it upon the seat G without further affecting the position of the wagon-body.

rlhis apparatus will be found to be simple in construction, and not liable to get out of order. By the sliding motion of the body the weight of the seat is equalized, and the springs relieved of too much pressure.

In case the side panels F are omitted the links H will be joined tothe back panel E, ot' which the panels F are the sides.

I claim as my inventionl. In combination with the panel E of the folding seat D, the connecting bars or links H, supporting bar or bars B, and vehicle-body A, substantially as described.

tion of the seat-support the position of the ve- Witnesses:

2. vThe combination of the folding-seat sup- The foregoing description of my invention port E with the link H, having a stop-joint, signed by me this 1st day of November, 1876. d, and with the sliding vehicle-body, all arranged so that during part of the folding mo- FREDK. OPPENHEIM.

hielo-body will not be aii'ected, substantially ERNEST C. WEBB,

F. V. BRIESEN.

as specified. 

